Connection
by nicoleniks94
Summary: Ramona Jones is an exceptionally ordinary human working in a bookshop. A certain Doctor appears and disturbs the peace of the shop. He whisks her away for an adventure, both of them ignoring the life-changing consequences that will follow. Rated T to be safe.
1. Signs

**Disclaimer: **Sadly, I do not own Doctor Who. If I did, I would be a writing genius. Ramona Jones, however, is my brain child.

* * *

**SIGNS**

_One spring night…_

Leaning back in the chair, she took a swig of beer and gazed at the clear night sky. The stars were shining brightly and the weather was pleasant. Oh, and the view... The view was magnificent.

Simply staring at the sky made her wonder if humans were the only life forms in the universe. She let out a sigh. What if they weren't? All these questions plagued her when she look up in the sky and dreamt of other galaxies. Or different times, just like she was there, fitting in; like she belonged there.

The woman closed her eyes for a moment, indulging to the images that flew before her closed eyelids. Unknown faces appeared; faces she didn't know, but seemed nice, soothing. Suddenly, an odd sensation filled her, and she leaned forward, blinking rapidly.

"Something's wrong," she muttered, staring down at bottle in her hands. She felt a comforting hand on her back.

"What is?" Sarah's face came into view.

The blonde sighed and shook her head. "I don't know," she shrugged. Sarah tried to comfort her by making soothing circles on her back. "I don't know."

"Those dreams bothering you again?" her friend asked with concern.

"Sort of," she half-smiled.

"What's wrong?" Heather asked dazedly –just by her slightly deepened voice it was easy to tell she was drunk. "You alright, Mon? Oh, don't mind these silly nightmares" the bleach blonde waved a dismissive hand. "Drink; you'll feel better."

Mona chuckled and shook her head. At once, Abigail snatched the bottle of beer out of Heather's grasp. "No!" she cried. "Oh, come on!"

Abigail pushed her a little. "Come on, up you get. You're sleeping here tonight. I'm not letting you go home like this," Abby scolded as she tried to move Heather, who tried to get away from her grasp.

"I hate you," the drunk woman grumbled as she was dragged towards the door that led inside.

"Need any help?" Sarah offered, causing Abby to stand momentarily.

"No, it's all fine," she replied before resuming her struggle to take Heather down the stairs. All Mona could do was hope they wouldn't trip and fall.

"Any better now, you?" the brunette turned to her friend who downed some more alcohol.

"Yeah," she replied, mostly to assure herself and stood up. "Better clean these up or we'll get a special Abby lecture and I'm not in the mood for that." Sarah laughed. The two women began gathering scattered glasses and bottles in companionable silence.

"So," Sarah began tentatively after a minute or so, "how's things with Daniel?"

The blonde's face lit up as she smiled. "It's… good." The brunette tried to suppress a smirk. "Well… more than good. A _lot_ more than good."

Sarah dissolved into laughter, which turned into an honest smile. "I'm so happy for you."

"Now," Mona smirked teasingly, "all we need is a bloke for you."

"Shut up," her friend chided lightly and chuckled.

The blonde laughed heartily. "And I know just the guy," she announced when the laughter subsided, causing Sarah to raise an eyebrow and then her eyes widened in realisation.

"No," she said firmly.

Her friend smirked. "Oh, yes!"

"Mona, don't you dare!" she cried out desperately.

The woman laughed. "You can't stop me!" she sing-sang as she jogged towards the door that led downstairs.

* * *

_The night before it all changed…_

She begged. Or at least seemed to –in a language she'd never hear of. Tears welled up in the older woman's eyes as beings of another world pointed guns at her and a young woman with dark, dense hair. The young brunette stood cowardly behind, not knowing what to do.

The creatures didn't hesitate and shot the older woman. With a terrified look on her face, the young woman ran towards her and tried to support her. Golden particles began emitting from the woman's hands, their force growing. The young woman gave the creatures an urgent and pleading look, but they looked unyielding.

The older female got shot once more, the golden energy ceasing emitting at once. She tumbled to the ground, the younger woman's hands failing to support the weight. A tear rolled down her cheek and a lump rose in her throat as she stood over the dead female, her grief growing. She wanted to scream.

"Mona!" came an urgent voice along with a vigorous shake. With a gasp, the woman woke up from her sleep, but calmed down as the woman's face came into focus.

"Sarah," she whispered and let out a sigh. "Sorry." The blonde sat up on the bed as Sarah sat on the bedside, sighing.

"Are you alright?" she asked with genuine concern, her brown eyes soft.

Mona nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine now," she replied and looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table; 3:37am.

The brunette tilted her head to the side. "Are you sure? D' you need anything?" she asked, but her flatmate only shook her head.

"What did I say this time?" she asked in a fed up tone as she ran a hand through her hair and yawned.

Sarah shook her head and shrugged. "You screamed," she replied. "What did you see?" she asked when she received no answer from the woman. For some unknown reason, Mona couldn't muster the strength to look Sarah in the eye while she fumbled with the words, so she kept her eyes trained on her intertwined fingers.

"Two women," she started slowly. "And some sort of… aliens? It was strange. They were fighting for their lives and the old one got shot and died. The other one was crying." Tears welled up in her eyes and she slowly raised her gaze to meet Sarah's. "It was so vivid," she whispered.

Sarah hushed her and engulfed her in a tight hug. "Don't worry, it'll be alright," she soothed as she stroked her friend's hair. Mona scoffed. "You'll see," the brunette muttered firmly as she broke away to look in the woman's eyes.

The blonde nodded and smiled. "Yeah."

Sarah got up with a sigh. "Now, go back to sleep, you."

Mona smirked. "Alright, mum, alright," she replied and fell back on her pillow as Sarah headed to her bedroom. Sighing, she turned off the lamp and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hello! This is the story of my OC (she's not secretly me), who accompanies the Doctor in his travels after _Journey's End_. So, the first one-shot takes place way before _Blink_ and the second after _Journey's End_ and before the specials.

I know this chapter probably makes no sense to you, but it will all fall into place later on.

Every 'episode' will be published as a different story and the updates will probably be weekly.

Thank you for reading. Review and let me know what you think.


	2. The Doctor

**THE DOCTOR**

Boring. Boring and completely normal; that's how the day was in the bookshop she worked. With her hand under her chin, the blonde shop assistant watched as the costumers made their way around the shop in search of a good story to keep them company in the late night hours and make them forget about their mundane lives even for a little while.

She sighed, sick and tired with the slow pace of life. Life and time seemed to move with the pace of a snail, never speeding up. She was in need of something different –a change; a change that couldn't find its way towards her.

Shifting her gaze, she saw Heather looking around keenly for a good-looking man. The woman's blue eyes travelled to another female, Abigail, who was carrying herself with an air of authority while helping out costumers.

The bell above the door jingled irritatingly, informing them on the arrival of a new costumer. She took in the appearance of the man in a long brown trench coat over a pinstriped suit that was walking towards her and Heather, who was grooming her bleached hair self-consciously.

"Ding dong!" her coworker whispered as she nudged her in the ribs meaningfully. The shop assistant rolled her eyes.

"'Ello!" the man greeted them, grinning cheerfully. He looked young, but old at the same time. His brown eyes held the wisdom of many years, but the bright twinkle of youth.

"May I help you?" Heather asked eagerly, a bright smile spreading on her lips. Her coworker noticed she used the smile she put on when flirting with clients and tried to stifle a chuckle.

"Oh, yes. Biographies. Love a good biography, me," he beamed.

"Always death at the end," the blonde grumbled under her breath while flipping through the pages of a magazine.

"You always need a good death. Dying gives us a size," the man retorted. Looking up from the periodical, the woman raised an eyebrow at him. His eyes seemed to size her up and he quirked an eyebrow as well.

"What?" the blonde demanded, feeling uneasy under his steady gaze. The costumer cleared his throat as he blinked, bringing himself back to reality.

"Oh, nothing," he dismissed. With a sigh, the woman returned her eyes to the magazine on the counter, still feeling the man's gaze. Mercifully –although the woman would never admit it–, Heather cleared her throat to attract the man's attention.

"This way, please," she said as she walked towards the costumer and linked her arm with his. The man's bemused eyes kept switching from their linked arms to the woman's face in a silent protest. Heather, however, didn't take the hint and guided him to the section he'd asked for, only looking over her shoulder to shoot a cheeky wink and playful smile towards her coworker. The woman behind the counter shook her head and smiled fondly despite herself. _Just another day at work_, she mused.

Flipping through the pages of the magazine, her eyes fell on an article about outer space. With a smile on her face, she brought the stool closer to the counter and settled down to read. While reading the first paragraph, the sound of books being thrown on the counter made her look up.

"These back on the shelves. _Now_," Abigail ordered with a stern look and then walked off to help costumers. Rolling her eyes, she tried to make up her mind on whether she would just sit there and spite Abby, or get this over with. Deciding that postponing it wouldn't hurt her, she sunk further in her seat and continued to read.

"Where's Heather off to?" Josh huffed, placing a book on the counter. "It's her turn on the till today".

The blonde didn't bother to look up from the magazine. "Biographies… New prey," she informed him as she finally looked at him with a smirk. She sighed as her eyes fell on the books. "Better put those away or your sister's going to kill me," she rolled her eyes and slid off the stool to pick up a several books off the stack Abby had constructed.

"Let me help you with that," he offered as he moved to pick up the remaining books.

"No, really, I-"

"Joshua Evans, put those books down," Abby, who had witnessed the scene, interrupted and slapped his hands off the books.

"Alright!" he cried, obviously fed up with his sister's desire to have control over everything.

"Let her work, will you? You always help. That's not how we should…" Mona let their everyday argument about the right way of running the shop fade away in the background.

She sighed, thankful that she was not at the epicentre of the yelling anymore. She moved in the History section, admiring the spines of the fancy books and put away those that belonged there.

The woman then proceeded to Biographies, where she was met by the sight of Heather talking to the peculiar costumer nonstop. The man, however, seemed to ignore her blatantly, the book in his hands receiving his full attention. Heather stopped abruptly and narrowed her eyes at him with anger and Mona watched her storm past her.

She let out a long sigh as she moved next to the man, hoping he wouldn't ask her to fetch him a book or anything of that nature. Putting one or two books away, she caught him looking at her out of the corner of her eye. She turned to him and he cleared his throat, returning his attention to the book. The blonde grimaced to herself, thinking how strange he was behaving.

"Sorry, have we… met before?" he asked after putting away the book. Mona turned to face him, eyebrows furrowed, his eyes serious behind his thick-rimmed glasses.

She opened her mouth to speak, but smirked instead. "No, I think not." The man turned around as he reached in the inside pocket of his coat. "Why-" a strange whirring sound interrupted her as she turned around. "What the hell was that?" she asked and tried to peer over his shoulder; all she could see was a metal device with a blue light at the tip.

"Sonic screwdriver," the man said, giving no further explanation. The shop assistant rolled her eyes and carried on putting away books, without bothering to ask more questions, the whirring sound in the background.

"I got strange readings from around the universe- Oh." The man had followed her in the next section, but then he stopped abruptly and so did the sound. "The exact same readings," he emphasized every word.

"What, here?" Mona asked with curiosity, his words attracting her attention.

"Yep," he replied slowly and looked at the sonic screwdriver intensely.

"What readings? _Alien_ readings?" she asked in disbelief as she stood next to him.

"Well..." the man trailed off as he raised his eyebrows. The woman sighed and, out of a sudden, a scream was heard. The two of them exchanged a worried look. The man placed the sonic screwdriver in the inside pocket of his coat and rushed back towards the counter. The blonde followed suit, equally worried.

"What was that?" Mona asked as Heather neared her with a puzzled and horrified look on her face.

"No idea," she replied in a whisper and she looked over her shoulder to the staircase. "It came from upstairs."

"Get everyone out of here!" the man spat out urgently as he pointed towards the vague direction of the exit. He ran up the stairs, leaving Mona tempted to follow him. With a quick look at Josh who was ushering out a handful of costumers and Heather, who stood hesitantly between the staircase and the door, she started up the stairs after she left the remaining books on a step.

"Where are you going?" Heather squeaked, stopping the other woman in her tracks.

Mona shrugged. "Upstairs," she stated the obvious.

"You could get hurt!" Heather tried to reason as she walked towards the staircase.

Her coworker shrugged once more and a smirk found its way on her lips. She climbed up the rest of the stairs with Heather calling her name after her. "What are you doing?" she asked as she caught sight of the man.

He waved the screwdriver at the length of the shelves and then checked the readings. "Void energy" he mumbled, mostly to himself.

"But…" Mona began tentatively, trying to construct her train of thought carefully, "voids are empty spaces in the Universe. How can they contain energy? They're empty, aren't they?" she asked and looked at him expectantly. A wave of astonishment washed over her as she wondered how she knew those things.

The man made a sound of appreciation. "Well," he began, "void energy comes from void particles, which means…" he trailed off and raised his eyebrows, "someone travelled in time."

Mona's eyebrows knit together in puzzlement. "Is that possible?"

"Well…" he trailed off, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

A strange, almost suspicious feeling overcame her. "Who are you?" she asked in an almost hostile tone.

"I'm the Doctor," he answered seriously.

Her face drained in colour. His name echoed in her head. _The Doctor… _She took a step towards him and he watched her carefully, but didn't back away. "It's you," she uttered numbly. "Exactly how she described you." She put a hand on his chest and looked at him, a small smile forming on her lips.

"What's your name again?" he asked, looking between her hand and her face, slightly leaning back uncomfortably.

"Ramona Jones," she muttered. "She said you could help," she stated after a slight pause.

"She?" he asked, his eyebrows almost disappearing in his hairline.

"Sally Sparrow. She said you could help me. That you could bring him back." Mona looked at him with hopeful eyes. Having spoken to Sally, she was positive that man could somehow help.

He, however, kept looking at her with the same puzzled eyes. And he seemed a bit… disoriented? The Doctor cleared his throat in an attempt to relieve tension and took a step back. "Well…" he drawled scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "Better get to the TARDIS," he announced and he jogged to the stairs.

Mona found herself in stunned silence as she watched him. He stood and the top of the stairs looking at her expectantly. How could this man talk utter nonsense and not wonder how a woman had disappeared from the face of the Earth?

"What are you standing there for? Come on!" the Doctor beckoned and then descended the stairs. Still slightly flustered, she followed him and noticed him talking to Josh and Heather. She walked up to them. Apparently, Abby had been abducted by aliens and Josh seemed to take it rather well.

"Mona!" the man in the trench coat exclaimed cheerfully when he spotted her. "There you are! Come on." He guided her towards the door, putting a hand on the small of her back, and before she could protest, he handed her her coat from the coat tree and they walked out.

"What was that for?" she asked as she stood to put her coat on. A few of the costumers that were inside before the incident were still outside chattering away and they barely noticed the pair.

"Well," he drawled and smirked confidently as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, "I thought you'd like the TARDIS."

The blonde narrowed her eyes at him. "What's a TARDIS, anyway?" She threw her hands up in frustration and charged down the street. He didn't seem to understand the importance of a situation. Instead, he behaved like a child. She felt irritated with him.

He had managed to keep up with her and as they walked he turned in a back alley of the main road. She stood, watching him as he walked towards a blue police box right in the middle of the alley. Something nudged in the back of her mind, telling her that box was not supposed to be there.

"Come on," he urged as the door creaked open and he entered the box, leaving her –yet again– torn on whether to follow him or not, but she already knew what she'd end up doing.

She walked inside the blue box and gasped.

* * *

**Author's Note:** My God, I was itching to update earlier than Sunday, but I managed not to. I would like to thank _SerenBex_ for her support and for being my first –and hopefully not only– reviewer and follower. Thanks, Becks! Also, thank you, _NaviRebel16_, for favouriting.

I suppose voids _are_ empty, but there _has_ to be energy in them, right? I think Mona is a bit rubbish with stuff like that. Or is she? To be perfectly honest, I don't know what I'm doing with all the spacey-wacey stuff.

Anyway, bit of a cliffhanger there, 'cause I'm a bad person and going to hell for it. I hoped you enjoyed it. Now you know what you have to do. Till next week!


	3. Culprit

**CULPRIT**

Mona looked around the spacious room astonished. Her mouth hang slightly open as she examined the main feature of the place; a large machine of some sort, assorted with controls, lights and switches of every shape and size. The room seemed to whir around her ever so slightly and she felt _welcome_.

She tried to wrap her mind around the fact that she was standing in a small police box that contained a massive room inside –what a bizarre thing that would be to say aloud. At that moment she registered that the Doctor was leaning against the… control panel, coat gone, arms folded across his chest and a confident smirk on his lips.

"It's- it's-" she stammered, struggling to find the right words to describe it and noticed the man's smirk turn into a full-fledged smile as she walked up the ramp.

"Dimensionally transcendental/Bigger on the inside," the two of them said at the same time and a strange feeling overcame her.

The Doctor looked at her in surprise. "What?" he cried.

Mona felt somehow guilty, like he accused her of knowing something she shouldn't. She opened and closed her mouth multiple times as she tried to find an explanation. "I'm sorry, I-"

He searched her eyes, seriousness and curiosity masking his face, but she didn't know what he was trying to find in them. "So," he started excitedly as he spun on the spot and jumped around the console, his demeanour changing in an instant, "this is the TARDIS; Time And Relative Dimension In Space," he explained quickly, as if they didn't have time.

"So it travels in time?" the blonde asked as she watched him move around, pulling levers and flipping switches.

"Yep," the man confirmed, popping the last letter of the word for emphasis and poked his head from the opposite side of the column.

"That's _fiction_," she remarked slowly, as if trying to explain something to a child.

"Blimey, you really are hard to convince," the Doctor replied distractedly, causing Mona to smirk. "Right, so," he began after a small pause, "that creature in the shop was a Graske; they invade planets by replacing its population." He pulled a lever and the TARDIS jolted, sending the woman flying backwards and she held onto the railing to maintain her balance. "_But_, they must be up to something different this time, 'cause your friend wasn't replaced by a changeling. She just disappeared, popped off into time and space."

The Doctor adjusted the controls and, with a low hum, the TARDIS resumed its previous position, helping them regain their footing. He hurried around the console, trying to keep the time machine steady. "Watch the screen, make sure we're following the trail!" he spat out urgently.

Mona rushed towards said screen and watched it intensely –not that she could gather much just by looking at it… Strange circular symbols were scattered and they made no sense. Something wanted to click in her mind, but she couldn't connect the dots however hard she tried. The man appeared next to her, looking at the screen with such interest. He seemed almost frantic as he clutched the monitor desperately.

"There!" he exclaimed, his word emphasised by a loud thud, which caused the woman to trip.

He grabbed his coat and put it on swiftly as he rushed to the exit. Opening the door, he looked at her, his eyes glistening with the curiosity of a child. A smile formed on his lips and she found herself smiling back. The Doctor stood by the door wordlessly, beckoning her to step outside.

Mona exited the TARDIS quickly, only to step in a muddy, rather crowded market. People were walking about, talking to vendors, examining the merchandise on the stalls. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except the people were blue-skinned and everything –from buildings to clothing– looked slightly… out-of-date for an alien planet. Alien planets ought to be futuristic… Or so she believed.

The Doctor appeared next to her and she barely registered him exclaiming, "Ah, Kaldenia Nine!" as he grinned from ear to ear.

"They're blue," she stated numbly, shocked by the fact they had travelled in time and they were standing on alien planet, millions of light years away from Earth.

"'Course they are! They're Kaldenians!" he cried, as if she had said the most stupid thing he had ever heard, which was probably true.

"Why's everything so… medieval?" she asked as they began walking. If she had to be honest, she couldn't really think of a better question to ask.

"They're recovering from a war," he explained and sniffed. "Wanted to end their alliance with the Sontarans. Well," he drawled characteristically, "the Sontarans weren't very keen on that."

They managed to mix in with the crowd, walking as if everything was as it should be. As Ramona watched the man next to her, she came to the realisation he had probably done that many times before. The way he strode about the market, like he knew that place too well, like he was accustomed to _everything_ around them.

Out of a sudden, a scream caused the chatter around them to stop. People strained their necks towards the direction of the sound, trying to get a good look. The Doctor had disappeared into the crowd and the blonde tried to follow him by pushing her way through the people that had gathered.

She found herself in some sort of alleyway. Someone –a Kaldenian, she assumed– was transforming into particles of dust, as he was being sucked by a device in the hand of a short creature. The small being had bared its razor-sharp teeth in a mischievous grin. The strange shape of its head, and especially the pointy ends, was a quite repulsive sight. The Doctor watched in frustration and anger as the Kaldenian disappeared into the device, never to be seen again.

Astounded, Mona turned to the creature, assuming it was the Graske they were looking for. Its almost completely white eyes sent a shiver down her spine because of their emptiness. She tried to comprehend how a humanoid could fit in that small device, failing to remember he had been reduced to dust.

"Abducting habitats of a level five planet is against galactic law," the Doctor warned slowly, but there was something lurking underneath the calmness with which he uttered those words.

The Graske let out a cackle. "Kaldenia Nine has been reduced to a level three planet," it replied in a very strange, deep voice.

"What about Earth? You abducted her friend!" he cried, his anger evident.

"We needed samples," the creature state plainly. "And your companion is not of much use to us, Time Lord," it spoke, having scanned the woman with a device.

She turned to the man next to her and tilted her head. "Time Lord?" she parroted, trying to understand. Again, as something was about to make sense, it just seemed to drift away from her reach.

"Samples? Samples of what?" the man avoided her question skillfully, choosing to focus on a different part of the conversation.

"But, if you, the most compassionate and the very, very last of your kind, were willing to take the Earthling's place, I would consider setting her free," it challenged, ignoring his cries for further information, a victorious smile settling on its lips. The Doctor looked at it somberly. "Or I could claim _you_," it threatened as it pointed its device at him.

"Run!" he cried as he reached for her. They fought their way through the crowd, trying to reach the TARDIS before the Graske could follow them.

However, the creature appeared in front of them through a bright teal gleam, causing a woman next to it to shriek in terror. The sound alerted the people around and, soon enough, a circle formed around the three of them, with the crowd watching their confrontation. The TARDIS was just ahead of them and Ramona couldn't think of a way to be of help.

"There's nowhere to run, Doctor," the small alien declared, pointing the device at him once again.

Mona's mind felt numb as she tried to find a solution and save them both, but the harder she thought, the more she seemed to sink into the problem. The Doctor looked a bit distressed next to her and she assumed he was trying to get them both out of there somehow, but he didn't know how, either.

As the fate of being turned into dust seemed to close in on them, the woman that had let out a scream at the sight of the small alien, stepped forward with determination and swatted the Graske on the head with her basket. It was effective enough to stun the being and the Doctor uttered his thanks to the blue-skinned woman as they made their way to the TARDIS hurriedly.

"What's a Time Lord?" Mona queried when they were safely back inside the blue box.

"That's me," the Doctor uttered slowly, too busy easing their way through time and space to look at her.

"And you're the last of you kind?" she asked again. She couldn't help her curiosity, even though it was plainly obvious she had touched a very sensitive topic.

"Yeah," he answered plainly. Sorrow was evident in his voice and facial features and her heart wrenched painfully for him.

"What happened?" She understood she shouldn't pick at his wounds, but she wanted to know, she wanted to _help_ any way she could. There wasn't much she could do, except try to ease his pain.

"There was a war," he said, his eyes finally meeting hers –two pools of desolation and despair.

She nodded, coming to terms with his desire not to elaborate on that, but she couldn't find the words that would relief him from his grief. She felt sorry for him; because he seemed like an incredibly lonely man, and she could really identify with the feeling of losing all of your loved ones.

They stood by the console in silence, each of them lost in their own maze of thoughts, until a noise like an alarm echoed in the console room.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Alright. Kaldenians –in case you were wondering– do not exist in canon. They're my invention. Thought I should make my story more original, as it was mainly inspired by _Attack of the Graske_, an interactive episode, which can be found as a game on the official Doctor Who website.

I thought the Graske getting hit with a basket was a funny way to help them escape, to be honest. Plus, everything around them was mostly wooden and the sonic wouldn't have been very helpful.

Hoped you all enjoyed this chapter, because things are about to get out of control in the next chapters… or so I hope. Oh, spoilers!

Might I add, I made a blog about Ramona and I think you should visit it (there's a link in my profile).

And, last but definitely not least, I forgot to mention that at some point there might be a crossover with _SerenBex_'s character, _Evie_. I'm sure you'd like to give her fics a read, because it's totally worth it.

The updates will not be as consistent from now on, I'm afraid, as I've yet to finish the story. We'll see. I'm sorry about that. Cheers.


End file.
